I've never used one, and judging from the responses there are individuals on the list who have. But here is my take--the Collation Compiler does not collate in the way the Hinman does. It does not compare text in same edition copies. Neither does it help in constructing the collation formula per se. What it does is allow the user to check the collation formula against the leaf count. In other words, so many gatherings in 8s (or whatever) equal so many leaves of text.Since going from the number of gatherings and the 4to/8vo/16mo-ity to the number of leaves is a question of simple multiplication, I wonder if that's all the device does, especially since Eileen Smith says
Eileen? Someone else who uses one?We use these at the John Carter Brown Library -- simple, wonderful gadgets!